fitness fins
How To Install a Mazda3 Shark Fin
When I bought my 2008.5 Mazda3 the first thing I noticed was the huge horse whip style antenna jumping from the roof of the car. I am not an aficionado FM Radio AM / and with the optional satellite radio or an iPod in tow there is not much reason to be, but the latest significant traffic and local news, it can not be beaten.
The wing Shark works like a sleek, compact replacement for your stock horse whip antenna and is extremely easy to install. We have not touched a little of snags though so read on to see how we have done and what not to do.
What you'll need
1. Flat Head Screw Driver (Optional)
2. Painter's tape or masking tape
3. Isopropyl rubbing alcohol (we used 70% and certainly recommend sticking to 70% rather than the more powerful than 98%)
4. For cars only Waxed – 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner or 3M Prep Solvent 70 or Dawn dish soap (liquid)
5. Hair Dryer (Heat Guns are too powerful and will damage your paint!)
6. A stool of some kind (unless you're tall enough to reach over the Mazda3 and push the middle.)
1. The first thing you do is unscrew the Elroy Jetson style antenna from its base. The antenna is a part so it should come immediately.
Okay, that's where we goofed it a bit. The image above is always the antenna while we were applying the rubbing alcohol. I do not think it really matters whether the antenna is activated or deactivated when you apply rubbing alcohol, but we were very eager to start so it is in the picture above.
2. Apply alcohol Rubbing with a paper towel or a blue shop towel and wipe the surface where your shark fin antenna will. Do not use cotton balls or pads cotton because, as we learned above, it allows the flow of cotton throughout.
Note: For car wax, you want to use the adhesive 3M General Purpose Cleaner/3M Prep Solvent 70 or Dawn liquid dish soap first remove the wax from the install area. Then use the Isopropyl rubbing alcohol to go on the same surface again and let dry.
Before planning the location of your shark fin make sure there no leftover residue or other materials (soil, dust etc.) on the area of plant because it will diminish the integrity of the seal Sealing Double-sided tape on the back of the shark fin.
3. Place the shark fin on the base of the antenna and approximate position on the antenna connection site. The reason you want to be as accurate as possible is that you are positioning the shark fin so you can place painter's tape (or tape) on all four sides and not have to align again when you want to connect the aileron shark at the base of the antenna. Once you are satisfied with the positioning of the shark fin, skip to step four.
4. Place painter tape around the shark fin starting from the front of the shark fin and then moving backwards. Then paste up artist on the left and right of the shark fin.
Note: We used just a piece of painter's tape to ensure the front end where it was needed to be. If you want absolute precise alignment we recommend placing the tape on the front of the shark fin in two to three pieces in a triangular configuration.
5. Peel back the pre-slit paper on the adhesive joint underlying aft. It is sliced in the middle of the back so you can take It Away (carefully!) A little way beyond the corners of the rear the shark fin. You do it because you will start the final placement of your shark fin in just a few short minutes!
There are two low screws provided, called M5 and M6, which should answer your antenna base quite well. At the heart of the shark fin antenna ago coiled connector you use to connect your antenna shark fin at the base of the antenna. See the photo above you see how we plugged the cord at the base of the antenna using the taller of the two screws and has done with the fingers rather than using an advanced driver of flat screws. The instructions caution against over tightening so we recommend you leave the screwdriver in the garage this time.
Tip: Tilt the back fins shark at the base of the antenna to provide enough slack so that the end is connected.
Before mounting the shark fin, you must make sure that the part of the roof where it will be implemented is at room temperature. We chose not to use a hair dryer because it was about 70 degrees outside and the sun was setting. With hindsight we would probably use the hairdryer anyway because our shark fin is a little ahead which means it does not bond well up there. I doubt it had anything to do with the glue joint and more to do with temperature roof.
6. Use a hair dryer to get your install area on the roof to the ambient temperature. Be careful and do not focus hairdryer in a given area of the roof to avoid damaging the paint of your car.
7. Remove your adhesive paper completely and prepare to mount the antenna.
8. Visually align the front of the shark fin to the pieces of tape used in Step 4 and the two side pieces. Do not press the glue joint at the moment (which is sticky!) And make sure the wing shark is properly aligned on all four sides. I was the camera when I checked from all four sides while my installer realigned the shark fin, if necessary.
9. Once you're aligned properly press down firmly on the front of the shark fin for about a minute. It is absolutely crucial that you press the front first.
10. Now that the front of the wing shark is mounted, you can simply press the back of the shark fin for about a minute (hold firmly!) And then remove the masking tape.
Success! The shark fin has been installed!
That's all there is to it!
Initial Impressions: The shark fin actually improved my local radio reception and I was quite happy with it so far. I am disappointed before that did not bond as well as it should, but I think we could user error. After all, we have not had this guide back and not forward when it was installed.
Final Thoughts: If you are into aesthetics or perhaps better radio reception, I highly recommend you get a shark fin. It is more a cosmetic treatment rather than a radio AM / FM booster but I certainly appreciate not having a car bumper type wand whipping around on top of my car while I'm on the road.
Warning: This installation guide has been created to assist you in a visual way and review what we learned from our experience installing it for the first time, but you should still consider the installation procedure sent to the shipping box. It is very comprehensive and can cover a number of things we omitted in our guide.
About the Author
To learn more about the Mazda 3, Mazdaspeed 3 or to meet other Mazda3/Mazdaspeed3 enthusiasts, please visit our Mazda 3 Forums.
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